


magic in the rain

by bitsori



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Character Study, Introspection, Kissing, M/M, Rain, sort of stream of consciousness but also kinda slice of life irdk!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-25
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-25 01:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30081159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitsori/pseuds/bitsori
Summary: Hyunjin has always liked the rain.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18
Collections: Blossom Boy Fest





	magic in the rain

**Author's Note:**

> written for hyunjin's birthday, c/o the [blossom boy fest](http://twitter.com/blossomboyfest). happy birthday hwang hyunjin! ♥
> 
> things have been tough for stays esp hj stans, but i hope this (and the the rest of the fics in this collection — don't forget to check them out) can help bring a smile to faces everywhere.
> 
> i used `11. a drenched rain` as prompt for this, but also, in a very minimal way, `12. morning laziness` appears in this as well.
> 
> lastly, this is for ruby, because i wouldn't have written it otherwise, haha. thanks for the excuse to write hyunho again, as short as this is. 🌸

☔

Hyunjin has always liked the rain.

As a young boy he would always look outside the nearest window when the skies initially darken, eagerly waiting for raindrops to start falling. The steady tapping on the glass always brought a smile on his face for some reason, as if the rain had a sort of mysterious calming effect.

He remembers playing football in middle school with his friends, not stopping even after the skies split open and the water starts to pour. He remembers the feeling of being enveloped in the rain, the water soaking through his clothes as he and his friends passed the ball around. For some reason, the rain also had an energizing feel to it, making the game more exciting and ten times more enjoyable.

In high school, there was a time when he was hanging out with his first girlfriend behind the gym, at school, when the rain suddenly arrived, and for some reason he felt the need to kiss her. Maybe it was an image triggered by the many dramas he always loved to watch and he just had to replicate the scene in real life; had to experience it and see for himself if it was as romantic as movies made it seem. So he did—he kissed her, and Hyunjin remembers starting slow and uncertain, unsure of what he was doing and what was expected of him. But somehow, it  _ did _ feel romantic and it was this notion that emboldened him. That was the day when he went past chaste mouth kisses with his girlfriend.

Hyunjin sighs, watching as the drops of rain get bigger, fatter; he barely cares that he’s slowly getting drenched. He remembers one of his old football seniors in high school telling him that a real man should be able to enjoy getting soaked in the rain; it was such a silly notion — the idea of being a ‘real man,’ and yet Hyunjin has always taken it to heart.

Lost in his thoughts, he doesn’t really notice Minho approach him until the downpour of water halts, and he realises that someone has generously held an open umbrella over his head, effectively shielding him from the rain.

“Are you an idiot?” Minho asks him; he's giving Hyunjin a disapproving look, but there isn't any bite in his tone. “You wanna get sick or something? You could have at least gone into the convenience store for shelter.”

Hyunjin laughs. He could have—and perhaps he  _ should _ have—but he didn't.

“Or you could have just gone back up to my apartment once the rain started,” Minho tells him, this time a hint of exasperation has made it into his tone.

Hyunjin, along with a few of their other friends had spent a couple of hours at Minho's earlier that evening, hanging out in celebration of the end of term. The rest of them had caught their respective buses home before it even started to rain.

Unlike them, Hyunjin lingered.

“The rain feels nice,” Hyunjin points out. “A little drizzle is fine.”

Granted, the drizzle has now turned into a shower, but who's to say he wouldn't have ran to shelter if Minho hadn't arrived with his umbrella?

“You looked like an idiot,” Minho returns. “I saw you from my window, standing in the rain, looking like a drowned ferret.”

Hyunjin laughs. “Is that why you came down with an umbrella?”

“No. I was gonna buy snacks at Ministop,” Minho deadpans. “Come on,” he tugs at Hyunjin's sleeve, “let's get you inside. Wait until the rain passes.”

“It's okay,” Hyunjin says. And then he laughs a little, picking up his feet when Minho starts to walk. “Real men don't mind the rain.”

Minho snorts. “You're fucking weird.”

Hyunjin laughs heartily. “You're one to talk.”

Minho grunts in response, which makes Hyunjin giggle softly. He loves getting a rise out of Minho; loves making him react. Unfortunately, he isn't very good at it. That last retort was clearly a dud, for one.

And then he realises that Minho is leading him across the street to his apartment building. “Hey, hyung I thought you wanted to get something at the Ministop?”

Minho's jaw clenches, and it takes him a couple of beats to answer. “I went to fetch a wet ferret,” he concedes, and Hyunjin grins.

“You were concerned for me,” he teases. Minho turns to him, gaze so sharp that it takes Hyunjin aback. “Sorry,” he murmurs.

“What are you apologising for?”

Hyunjin shrugs; they've finally reached the front entrance of Minho's building. Boldly, he reaches for Minho's wrist before the latter can head up the steps and input the building's security code to let them both in. 

“Can we stay here for a few minutes?” he asks softly. “I like watching the rain.”

Minho stares at him, but he does turn to face the street; to watch the rain as it steadily pours from the sky. He shrugs, and huddles closer next to Hyunjin under the umbrella. For several minutes they stand side by side, not saying anything.

Hyunjin has always had a hard time reading Minho. Sometimes he's loud and noisy – a natural life of the party when he wishes to be, but more often than not, he retreats into silence, expression hard to read.

“The rain is nice, don't you think?” Hyunjin attempts conversation.

“I guess,” Minho answers quietly.

“Hyung,” Hyunjin starts, turning to look at Minho. “Do you think I'm the same person I was two years ago?”

Minho laughs. “Is this what the rain does to you?”

Hyunjin shrugs; the truthful answer is yes – the rain tends to make him nostalgic; tends to make him look back a lot. But it feels silly to admit that out loud, especially to Minho.

“I have a lot of things going through my head,” he answers instead.

“People are rarely the same person they were yesterday, much more two years ago,” Minho answers. “Most changes are subtle, but they're there. That's what I think anyway.”

Hyunjin purses his lips, unsure if he's satisfied with the answer he's been given. 

He had first met Minho a little over two years ago, when he had enrolled into the same dance program that the elder belonged to. Hyunjin doesn't think he has a natural talent for dance, but he tries his best to make up for that through hard work.

Minho works hard too, of course; he always has and Hyunjin knows that. He makes it seem effortless, natural, but he’s always the first one at the studio, and the last one out.

“Are you trying to get me to confirm that you've turned into a  _ real _ man?” Minho asks, a teasing lilt in his tone and a slight smirk curving on his lips. 

It’s raining and he’s wet, and he should be cold, but Minho’s words has Hyunjin's face heating up. “Can we forget I said that?” he grumbles; one would think he knows better than to thoughtlessly ramble around the elder.

Minho laughs. “You’ve grown up a lot in the time I’ve known you,” he confirms with a cheeky grin. 

Hyunjin was in his last year of high school when he started dancing; when he met Minho.  _ Of course _ he’s grown up a lot, but Minho’s declaration feels somewhat hollow –  _ lacking. _ He supposes he doesn’t just want to hear words, he wants to  _ feel  _ acknowledgment.

It wasn’t as if he had always found Minho intriguing; Hyunjin doesn’t even remember noticing him the first couple of weeks after he joined the dance studio. But little by little, they had gotten closer; bit by bit, Minho had made himself a fixture in Hyunjin’s life. As they grew closer, Hyunjin only seemed to discover more layers to him, each one rendering Minho more and more opaque. It all just adds to the Mystery of Lee Minho; it only just adds to Hyunjin’s interest in him.

_ “Whatever,”  _ he mutters, almost petulantly. 

Minho squints at him, and then he rolls his eyes, his laughter far too hearty. 

“Don’t sulk,” he tells Hyunjin. “We should go inside. If we don’t get you dry soon you'll get sick.”

Hyunjin sighs, and when he meets Minho’s gaze, he finds there’s a softness to them. It makes him smile despite himself. “Yeah alright,” he agrees with one last glance at the rain that’s pouring doubly hard now.

“Just so we’re clear though,” Minho starts, still not moving despite his earlier admonition. There’s a playfulness in his voice that makes Hyunjin whine before he can even finish what he’s saying. “Since I stayed here with you, under the rain—it makes me a real man too, right?”

Hyunjin groans because  _ there it is. _ “Can we just forget I said that?” he demands, swatting Minho’s arm, which earns him a steely glare.

He cowers instinctively, but just as quickly, Minho’s frown turns into a grin; and then suddenly he’s cracking up, and it’s contagious enough that Hyunjin soon joins him. He wonders what other people think when they see them together; sometimes he doesn’t understand even their own dynamics.

They stay standing there for a couple more minutes, under their tiny (almost useless) umbrella; Hyunjin silently contemplates life, and manliness, and other trivial things—such as the way Minho reacts to him, and what any of it means—until the downpour gets too heavy and they finally rush into the apartment building.

“We look like drowned rats,” Minho comments yet again as they drip water into his apartment; Hyunjin would feel bad but Minho seems unfazed despite his words. Besides, at least it's the two of them now, together in their drowned aesthetics.

“That's ‘cause the rain has turned us into real men,” Hyunjin comments, playful and grinning, the first one to bring the topic back up despite his earlier whining.

“Oh fuck off,” Minho answers, flipping him off, but he's grinning right back.

Hyunjin probably deserves that because it's such a silly notion. Being a  _ real man _ . What does that even mean?, Still, he loves the rain, and he likes being able to make Minho smile like that.

“Wait here,” Minho instructs. “I’ll get you a towel and some change of clothes.”

Hyunjin nods wordlessly. Minho has a tendency to be blunt with his words and sharp with his expressions, but there’s also a softness to him. Hyunjin loves getting glimpses of that side of him.

So he waits—he stands in the middle of Minho’s apartment, waiting for him, thinking of the rain, and the smile that Minho was wearing before he retreated to his room, and he realises something.

Both of these things give him a strange brand of courage.

“Here.” Minho offers a towel to him when he reappears from his room; Hyunjin takes it but when Minho turns again – maybe to go back to his room, maybe to head to the bathroom, it’s unclear because before he can find out, Hyunjin is moving to grab Minho’s wrist.

“Huh?” Minho pauses and turns once again to look at Hyunjin. “What?” There’s curiosity reflected in his eyes, but the slight upturn of his lips – the hint of a smirk, seems challenging, if anything.

“Hyung,” he starts, but words escape him; or maybe he didn't really possess the right ones to begin with. He can't be sure, because for once he allows instinct to take over.

He smiles, shy but determined, and when Minho doesn't move to protest, Hyunjin pulls him to himself, one hand gently curling against the back of Minho's neck so Hyunjin can hold him steady as he presses their lips together.

He thinks he feels Minho smile into the kiss – has he been expecting this? A dozen thoughts buzz and bounce around Hyunjin's head as usual, and the only way he manages to drown them out is to deepen the kiss. He exhales softly, tongues the seam of Minho's lips to seek entrance, licks into his mouth when finally granted access.

Powered by instinct, yearning and whatever enchantment the rain had to offer, it doesn't take long before they're both panting into the kiss—until they're both eagerly trying to rid each other of their wet clothes.

Maybe there’s something about the rain that washes away so much – that washes away his insecurities, even for a brief moment in time. Something about the rain that takes him back, and makes him remember simpler times when he had less things to worry about, and he was youthfully bold; something about the rain that takes him back to when he didn't always second guess himself, and lets him to view life from a new perspective that allows him to see how much he's grown. 

Maybe rain is magic, he thinks – he isn’t sure; the way Minho kisses sure feels like it, though.

  
  


(They both get sick the day after.

Hyunjin wakes up sprawled on Minho’s bed, initially confused as to where he is. He doesn’t want to move, especially because the weight of Minho’s head is pressing down against his chest.

The older male looks peaceful this way; calm in a way that's foreign to Hyunjin, and he doesn't want to disturb it.

“We're both already sick anyway,” he murmurs to himself — a clear excuse. “And we both need body warmth so we don't get cold.”

And if Minho only stirs? Ever so slightly so Hyunjin can't be sure if he's awake enough to have heard his mutterings? 

Maybe it doesn't really matter.)

•••

**Author's Note:**

> feedback, as always, is appreciated. be honest, but don't be rude!


End file.
